This is the second of a multi-part series, please start your journey with part 1.
His fingers hovered over the satchel for just a moment longer. Then, slowly, deliberately, he pulled the drawstrings open.
Inside, resting in the soft folds of black felt, was a curved piece of shiny steel. Sleek. Minimal. Intimidating, in a what exactly is this thing kind of way. And nestled into the corner of the bag like a buried treasure, the tiny key—the twin of the one I now wore around my neck.
He lifted the cage and turned it over in his hands, his brows pulling together in a little knot of curiosity. “What… is it?” he asked, but not in a fearful way. More like a man being handed a riddle with a very sexy answer.
I smiled, leaning in a little. “It’s a game,” I said, voice low and inviting. “A very sexy game.”
He looked at me, his eyes scanning my face like he was trying to figure out if I was joking. But I wasn’t. I hadn’t been this turned on by a conversation in years.
“My friend Nadia—remember her from book club?” I asked.
“Yeah, I remember her.” he nodded.
I nodded, tapping the heart-shaped key between my collarbones. “She has one just like this for her husband’s little cage. And now this one goes to yours… if you’re into it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Go on…”
I leaned back in my chair, just enough to give the moment some air. “It’s not punishment. It’s not weird. It’s… a little game where you’re under lock and key for me. It spices things up, puts a little anticipation back in our sex life. You still get pleasure—eventually—but on my timeline. You earn it. You wait. You squirm a little. And in the meantime? You adore me. Worship me. Desire me.” I gave a small smirk. “And babe? I haven’t wanted something this bad in a long time.”
He looked stunned for a moment. Not in a bad way—just processing. He was trying to picture it, I could tell. But what mattered most was how his expression softened next. Like I’d handed him the map to a place he didn’t know we both wanted to go.
“This is really turning you on,” he said, more of a statement than a question.
I nodded. “It is. Like crazy.”
His grin came slow and wide. “Then I’m all ears.”
He took the cage and the key and disappeared into the bathroom with that sheepish-yet-curious look on his face that I hadn’t seen since our honeymoon.
I heard the door click shut. Then quiet. I waited, trying not to pace, practically buzzing with nervous excitement.
A few minutes later, the door opened again.
And there he was, standing tall—no pun intended—with that proud, boyish smile. The kind he only gets when he nails something difficult… or surprises me.
“There,” he said. “Locked.”
He said it with a note of pride, like it was something he had chosen—and in a way, it was.
I beamed.
I reached down and gently tapped the key hanging around my neck against the tabletop. Tink tink tink. The sound was so small… but the feeling?
Immense.
The moment stretched, slow and deliberate. My smile deepened. “Okay,” I said sweetly. “Well then… I’m not unlocking you until bedtime.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“Not even if I beg?” he teased.
“Especially not if you beg,” I winked.
He laughed, settling into the chair again, the confidence in him vibrating at a different frequency now. Not macho. Not performative. Something else. Something warmer. Responsive.
I couldn’t stop looking at the key. I ran my fingers over it again, wondering how something so small could feel so intoxicating. Was this how Nadia felt all the time?
It wasn’t just about sex. It was about the shift. The subtle but powerful change in who gets to steer the ship. And let me tell you—I was loving the view from the captain’s chair.
Later that night, after we’d curled up on the couch and talked more than we had in weeks, I caught him adjusting himself, clearly becoming very aware of his new situation.
“You doing okay?” I asked.
He smiled, eyes a little glassy, voice a little lower. “It’s strange. But kind of hot. I feel… like I’m yours.”
My heart skipped. That was it. That’s what I had wanted to hear all along.
“You are mine,” I whispered. “And now there’s no forgetting it.”
He looked at me like I’d just flipped the lights on in a dark room he hadn’t realized he’d been living in.
And for the first time in a long time… I felt wanted again. In control. Desired and adored.
All from a little key around my neck.
